Nich Gutierrez of Springfield, Ohio, is bundled up as he works in the cold Monday removing trees that fell during December's ice storm at an East Lansing home. / Greg DeRuiter/Lansing State Journal

Written by

Marlon A. Walker, Lori Higgins, David Jesse and Ann Zaniewski

Detroit Free Press Staff Writers

Snow and ice cover the boat slips at the light tower at Milliken State Park, along Detroit's Riverwalk. The lighthouse is not an official lighthouse by U.S. Coast Guard standard, but it is a safety light, or private guide to navigation at the park's marina entrance. / Diane Weiss/Detroit Free Press

There is no snow in the forecast today and Wednesday, but residents could wake up to temperatures in the negative digits. A high of 3 is expected today, but the windchill will make that feel closer to 30 below zero. The warm-up begins Wednesday, and the weekend will feel almost balmy, with highs in the low 20s beginning Thursday.

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Hundreds of schools will be closed today because of bitterly cold temperatures as another blast of arctic air chokes winter-weary southeast Michigan.

With the forecast calling for windchills of 30 below, law enforcement officials say it will be dangerously cold and are urging people to stay home.

Even the University of Michigan, which hasn’t canceled classes because of weather since 1978, is shutting down.

“I believe this is absolutely a great move,” U-M senior Nicholas McLaren, 21, of Alpena, said Monday. “I walked all over campus today and it is absolutely frigid out. If it was colder tomorrow and they had classes, there would have been a legitimate danger to students.”

An arctic front that dumped several inches of snow on metro Detroit overnight Sunday brought with it low temperatures that will keep the region near or below zero today, said National Weather Service meteorologist Rachel Kulik. The temperature is expected to peak around 3 degrees, Kulik said, with a low of 10 below.

Law enforcement officials said it will be so cold that any remnants of snow could leave slick roads.

“That means slow down,” Michigan State Police Sgt. David Robertson said Monday. “And no matter what, you want to make sure you’re prepared to get out of the car, whether that means to get out and go to the store or, God forbid, something happens and you’re stranded.”

School districts across the region — plus many colleges — chose to close today. Some closures could extend into Wednesday, when parts of metro Detroit will still be under a windchill warning.

School officials say when temperatures get so far below zero, conditions can be dangerous for children — especially those waiting for school buses. Another consideration: Some districts struggle to get their buses started when temperatures are so low.

Students in some school districts that have already had their fair share of snow days off, including West Bloomfield and Waterford, likely won’t be cheering for too long: Today’s day off will put both districts at six days off for snow and cold temperatures — and that means, by state law, they may have to make up the time.

This has been the snowiest January on record in metro Detroit, with 37.1 inches of snow. The previous record was 29.6 inches, set in 1978.